Dan Stroot

I love building things

Technology leader, builder, and eternal optimist. Writing about leadership, engineering, and the future of technology.

AI Manifesto

Dan StrootJune 23, 2026

The Agile Manifesto was written in 2001 in response to heavyweight, process-centric software development. It argued that communication and adaptability mattered more than rigid plans and documentation. However, Agile largely failed at the enterprise level because organizations adopted the ceremonies while preserving the underlying bureaucracy. It's time for a new manifesto.

Read: AI Manifesto

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Botsitting: The Hidden Cost of AI Productivity

Dan StrootJune 18, 2026

87% of digital workers now use AI at work. 75% say it makes them more productive, but some of the gains are being swallowed by a new, largely invisible AI tax, e.g. Botsitting. Botsitting is the work required to make AI usable, including feeding it missing context, checking its outputs, debugging its mistakes, rerunning prompts, and cleaning up the confident-but-wrong answers AI leaves behind.

Read: Botsitting: The Hidden Cost of AI Productivity

3 min read

It's Time to Rethink the Offshore Development Model

Dan StrootJune 12, 2026

As AI compresses the effort required to write code, the non-coding portions of software development consume a larger percentage of total effort. And those are precisely the activities that offshore models have traditionally struggled with. I believe the future belongs to smaller teams, closer to the business, amplified by AI.

Read: It's Time to Rethink the Offshore Development Model

6 min read

AI Meat Shields

Dan StrootApril 16, 2026

Who takes accountability when AI systems fail? A model can deny a loan. A model can misprice risk, yet a model cannot be sanctioned in a way a human or company can. You can fine a corporation, but only a human can apologize. Only a corporation or human can face legal consequences.

Read: AI Meat Shields

7 min read

Inside Block’s AI-Native Organization

Dan StrootApril 4, 2026

Like everyone, I'm very curious to see how AI is going to impact individual jobs as well as overall organizational models. I believe the more impactful change will be on the organizational side and Block is leading the thinking in this space.

Read: Inside Block’s AI-Native Organization

3 min read

Vercel Skills.sh

Dan StrootJanuary 21, 2026

Do you remember when you first saw the movie The Matrix, and Neo learns Kung Fu, or Trinity learns to fly a helicopter just by uploading a new skill? If your software engineers are LLMs then welcome to Vercel's skills.sh

Read: Vercel Skills.sh

4 min read

Context Engineering for Humans

Dan StrootJanuary 16, 2026

Whether you’re prompting a large language model or asking a colleague for help, the quality of the context you provide is often the difference between getting what you want, or not. In other words, context engineering isn’t just for LLMs. It’s unreasonably effective with humans too.

Read: Context Engineering for Humans

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Dan Stroot

AI Manifesto

More Stories

Botsitting: The Hidden Cost of AI Productivity

It's Time to Rethink the Offshore Development Model

AI Meat Shields

Inside Block’s AI-Native Organization

Vercel Skills.sh

Context Engineering for Humans

Dan Stroot

AI Manifesto

More Stories

Botsitting: The Hidden Cost of AI Productivity

It's Time to Rethink the Offshore Development Model

AI Meat Shields

Inside Block’s AI-Native Organization

Vercel Skills.sh

Context Engineering for Humans